


A Lesson in Humanity

by arispeaks



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Day 02: Fantasy AU, Disney References, Fluff, M/M, Original Character(s), Royalty, SakuAtsu Fluff Week 2021
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:01:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29493993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arispeaks/pseuds/arispeaks
Summary: “For the arrogant son who expects the seven seas to part for him and his golden crown, I give you alesson.”, and with that, the prince vanishes like a popped bubble.
Relationships: Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Kudos: 27





	A Lesson in Humanity

Growing up, Atsumu had never really thought that anyone could refuse him anything, what reason could they possibly have to tell him; “No.”, that’s right- **none**. 

He’s a prince of the seven seas, to refuse him is to refuse his father, and nobody denies King Ryujin of anything. So it would follow that nobody denies his youngest son of anything too.

Now, pray tell; why the _hell_ is this old hag trying to tear this rusty piece of junk away from him?

He could practically _hear_ Osamu’s voice saying; _“It’s not a piece of junk you idiot, it’s a rare sword from the human world’s samurai era.”_

Whatever.

Osamu may be smarter than him when it came to human world trivia, but what’s the point of that? They’re _mermaids_ , why would they need to learn about the useless humans.

Atsumu on the other hand, knew _facts_ , like one; _he’s getting this stupid Viking sword or whatever for his twin_ , and two; _this crusty old hag is telling him No, and on his birthday of all days. What an insolent-_

Okay, calm down Atsumu, Mother always told you to be nice. She would probably reconsider if she saw this hag’s ugly face but that’s beside the point. 

“Hey granny-”, a feral snarl, “Calm down- I was just going to offer you seven thousand pearls for this thing, go buy something nice for yourself instead of fighting me for this garbage.”

The sea witch hisses; “What could I possibly buy to replace this precious treasure.”, Atsumu scoffs- right, _precious._

Atsumu tugs on the hilt of the sword and nudges the guard to hand the lady the pearls, “I don’t know granny, maybe a new face? One that doesn’t resemble this chunk of rust we’re squabbling over.”

The sea witch gasps, scandalized, and Atsumu grabs the opportunity to seize the sword.

He turns back and hightails it back to the palace, Mother would grill him if he turned up late to his own party again.

Realizing that the prince had run off, the guard decides to thrust the pearls into the witch’s arms and swims back to hurriedly catch up to Atsumu.

Nobody notices the bag of pearls drifting towards the seafloor.

_She had other ideas about the price Prince Atsumu had to pay._

___________________________________________________________________________

For all his confidence, Atsumu could never really get the hang of controlling the bright red flush that graces his face when he’s about to do something _sappy_ for his twin.

They’ve opened the gifts that were brought to them from kingdoms far and wide, now it’s time for the twins to exchange the gifts they’ve gotten for each other.

Fidgeting with the sword, he wordlessly hands it to Osamu.

He watches his twin’s face brighten, and before he even realizes it, Osamu lunges to envelop his twin in a hug in front of the whole kingdom.

Osamu finally releases him and hooks something around his twin’s neck. Atsumu looks down and realizes it’s a necklace with a pretty purple pendant.

“It’s an amethyst,”, Osamu explains, “It drives away negative emotions.”

He hooks a similar necklace around his own neck, “Look, we match.”, he fidgets with his hand.

“I tried to put a communication spell on it but I only managed to enhance the crystal’s properties. Through the pendant, I can feel a part of what you’re feeling.”, Osamu fidgets with his hand nervously, “I know you’re worried about us drifting apart. This way, we’ll always be a part of each other.”

Atsumu looks at his twin’s hands, fingertips slightly scorched like they always are after an entire day of spellcasting. _I tried to put a communication spell on it._

Returning the hug tenfold, Atsumu whispers; “Idiot. We’ll always be a part of each other.”, _Thank you._

“Well, well; what a touching display.”, a voice cuts through the moment, “I too, have a gift for the prince.”

There’s a commotion, the guards trying to find where the voice is coming from, trying to pinpoint the intruder. Ryujin tries to usher his twins out of the room, but the voice speaks again.

“For the arrogant son who expects the seven seas to part for him and his golden crown, I give you a _lesson_.”, and with that, the prince vanishes like a popped bubble.

A beat. Then pandemonium.

The guards yank their weapons out of their hilts, the king bellowing for his katana.

Guests run around the hall like headless chickens, and only one person remains calm.

With a snap of his fingers and a bright flash of light, Osamu reveals the intruder. A sea witch cackling like a madwoman.

The guards shackle her before she can get away, trying to question her about their prince’s whereabouts, but all they get is laughter.

Gritting his teeth, Osamu snatches their father’s sword and points it at the hag.

Everyone in the room stills. It’s a grave offense, to grab the legendary weapon- an even graver one to brandish it for yourself, but Osamu doesn’t care.

Neither does his father.

“Where is my brother.”

The witch smiles, a wicked grin on her face; “Learning a lesson.”

“ **Where did you take my son**.”, the katana flies back to the king, Osamu moves out of the way of the hot sparks coming from his father. _This is bad._

He heard stories of the last time his father got like this, he saw the ruins.

Then, he feels it.

“He’s alive.”, he says clearly. This manages to snap their father out of his volatile state.  
___________________________________________________________________________

Atsumu always hated sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.

So when he wakes up on a _sandy_ shore, he gets understandably upset.

Not to mention the guy with the weird eyebrows poking and prodding at him.

“Oh look, Kiyoomi, he’s awake.”, Komori calls his cousin.

 _Sunshine_ , is what Sakusa thinks, _a sundrop fallen from the heavens._

_There’s no way this guy is human._

Atsumu is growling at them, seconds away from lashing out at these strange men in this strange place. He looks at their legs, their feet- and instantly realizes who they are.

_Humans._

“Do. You. Understand. Me.”, the human with weird eyebrows says slowly. The other human with curly black hair smacks weird eyebrows dude. Atsumu decides he likes that one a little bit more than the other.

_Not that much though, he’s still human. Disgusting, useless creatures._

“Of course I understand you. Idiot. Now tell me where I am, I need to get back to the palace so I can cut off that hag’s warts one by one.”

“Palace? It’s right above you. Though I’ve got to say, it has a surprising lack of warty hags.”, Kiyoomi says dryly.

_Above? What does he mean-_

Atsumu looks up and sees a gleaming white palace on a cliff overlooking the sea.

Overlooking the sea.

He sits up in a panic, “What? Huh- how am I- what’s happening, what did she-”

Komori tries to grasp him firmly but Atsumu swats him away, “Don’t touch me!”

Wordlessly, he backs away, Atsumu expects him to look offended- just like how everyone back home looks when he snaps at them, but instead he looks like he understands.

“Sorry, it must be scary to have a complete stranger try to get close to you.”, he extends his hand, “Duke Motoya, from the House of Komori.”

_Duke? That must make him a royal then. Do they live at the palace?_

He warily takes the hand, “Atsumu.”, he says simply.

They both look at the curly haired man, “Kiyoomi.”

Motoya laughs, “Sorry about him, he’s pretty awkward.”, he helps Atsumu stand.

“I hope you don’t mind, the castle’s pretty far from here, but we can only go by foot.”

_By what? I don’t have one of those._

He looks down.

Oh, apparently I do. But I’ve never- Whatever. If the humans can do it, then I can too.

On shaky legs, Atsumu takes a few steps forward, on the fourth one- he pitches down.

Kiyoomi catches him in strong arms, and instead of setting him back down, readjusts his hold so he can carry him comfortably.

“You’re not from here are you?”, Kiyoomi whispers in his ear.

Atsumu looks away, eyes teary.

_Yeah, definitely too pretty to be human._

“You can put me down now.”, Sakusa scoffs, “Nonsense. You can’t walk.”

Atsumu gasps at the bluntness, how dare he; “No need to be such a jerk, Kiyoomi.”

He doesn’t know why, but he likes the way his name rolls off of Atsumu’s tongue.

___________________________________________________________________________

When they finally get to the palace, the guards look at them weirdly.

_Ah cut them some slack, who wouldn’t double take when they see their prince; infamous for his touch aversion, willingly carrying a strange man._

There, they get the blond some proper clothes, and try to teach him how to walk.

Atsumu falls on Kiyoomi’s floor for the umpteenth time that day. Thankfully, the fall is cushioned by the soft carpet.

Kiyoomi doesn’t share the same sentiments, “I can just car-”

“It’s a carpeted floor, it won’t even bruise him. Besides he’s getting the hang of it, and wouldn’t it look weird if the prince walked around the festival carrying a grown man?”

Sakusa glares at Motoya, mood dampened when he’s reminded of the bustling festival.

Without realizing it, the two miss the way Atsumu manages to make it across the large room without tripping or stumbling, they only notice when they hear a triumphant cheer from the entryway.  
___________________________________________________________________________  
The festival is beautiful. Colors bloom all around, music carries through the wind, and beautiful lights make the whole kingdom glow.

Kiyoomi was talking to some diplomats when Atsumu finds a group of young children making garlands out of beautiful flowers. 

When Kiyoomi notices that Atsumu isn’t hovering beside him anymore, he’s seized by a cold sense of panic. He breathes out a sigh of relief when he spots him by the fountain.

“I’m sorry gentlemen, but I really do need to get going- I’m sure Motoya would love to have your company. If you’ll excuse me.”

His lips curl up into a fond smile when he sees what Atsumu is doing with the village children. One of them places a daisy chain on his blond head, and Atsumu brightens when he sees Kiyoomi.

Atsumu slips something on his hand when he gets near enough and Kiyoomi looks down to see a single daisy wrapped around his finger.

“We match.”, he says lightly.

When he hears a soft whimper, he looks up and is alarmed to see Atsumu’s eyes well up with tears.

“What is it?”, he wipes away the tears with his thumb, “Did I say something wrong?”

“No it’s just-”, a sniffle.

“Do you want to talk about it?”, Atsumu shakes his head, “Okay, that’s fine. Do you want to go to the docks?”

___________________________________________________________________________

Looking up, Atsumu decides he’s going to burn this image into his mind forever.

Thousands of bright lights light up the sky, they look like stars coming down to visit Earth. He’s never seen anything like it.

He hears Kiyoomi clear his throat, tearing his eyes away from the sight of the visiting stars, he turns to look at the man.

“ _Oh_.”

In his hands, Kiyoomi is holding two bright lights, each painted beautifully with the royal insignia.

“Will you help me fly these lanterns?”, _Oh that’s what they’re called._

Gently taking one into his hands. Atsumu cradles it gently, before helping it take flight.


End file.
